route_1065 | Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.

Entry tags:

Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.

Who: Alphonse Elric, Envy, Greed, and Wrath.
Where: An ill-fated bakery. All around Goldenrod. The freakin' basement.
When: August 11th onwards! This is a catch-all.
Summary: The world has been pretty good to the various monsters and serial killers hailing from Amestris, but one particular villainous wild child has yet to be rehabilitated.
Rating: PG-13 for talk of abuse, manipulation, brainwashing, all that good stuff.
Log:

Continued from here.

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[When Envy gets down the stairs, he turns around the edge of them to stand in front of Wrath's hiding nest.]

[Progress has been slow, and it would be a lie to say that Envy hadn't gotten frustrated a whole lot. But at least it's HAPPENING. He hadn't been entirely sure it would, at the beginning.]

[And the smell of toast and melted cheese coming off that plate is a pretty good one.]

[Envy only just barely bites back a snarky comment about 'well you've been eating it so far'.]

Not even food where the bread's toasted?

_{[Wrath is curled into a loose ball in his twisted makeshift fort, but the smell does have him lifting his head slightly, and his stomach growls mournfully.]

[It's true, he HAS been eating the food they give him-- SOME of it, and only when he can't stand the hunger any longer-- but even then, he's probably been eating only out of sight, leaving the empty plates at the foot of the stairs and loudly proclaiming that he fed it to the Pokemon. It wouldn't do to have them thinking he was falling for their bait!]

[But all the same, he squints over his shoulder, face mostly obscured by his unbrushed tangle of hair.]}

... You toasted it?

[Envy nods, crouching down so that he can put the plate on the floor and slide it in Wrath's direction. He doubts Wrath would take it out of his hand, and this way he can see it better.]

[It's definitely toasted...a little too much, but not inedibly.]

Yeah, I toasted it. All the snakes are dead.

_{[A good idea. Envy probably has plenty of bite-marks on his arms already, he doesn't need another one.]

[As the plate rattles across the floor towards him, he rolls over to face it (and Envy), sniffing suspiciously.]}

The snakes are dead?

Are you sure?

Of course I'm sure. If I want something dead, I make sure of it. You know that.

[Envy sees no point in trying to deny that there were ever any snakes in the first place; Wrath clearly believes it, and they're already trying to convince him of so much that snakes in bread seems like an incredibly unimportant thing to argue with him over.]

It'll taste better if you eat it now.

_{[Envy makes a very convincing point.]

[Wrath scrunches his face in a frown-- he doesn't WANT to eat something that Envy made him, but... it does smell good. And he's so hungry. Almost as hungry as he'd been on that island.]

[After a moment or so, the needs of his body win out over his stubbornness and he reaches out to drag the plate towards him and start peeling the sandwich apart and nibbling experimentally on the gooey melted cheese dribbling out of it. If he eats it TINY PIECE BY TINY PIECE then he can REALLY be sure there's no snakes.]}

[Envy holds back yet ANOTHER insulting comment about Wrath's eating habits. It doesn't actually matter so long as he actually eats.]

[He knows he should be talking to Wrath while he's down here, but he also doesn't want to set Wrath off about traitors and get the sandwich thrown back at his face.]

All that snow we told you about is finally melting. It'll be warming up more down here.

_{[This is tasty. THIS IS SO TASTY. Oh god he was so hungry.]

[Once the first few bites fail to elicit any deadly response, he starts to wolf it down more quickly, barely even chewing before he swallows. Not that this stops him from speaking through a mouthful of food.]}

Why is it melting?

_{[The last time that stuff had been around, it had stayed for AWHILE.]}

[PLEASE DON'T CHOKE ON HIS WATCH, WRATH.]

Because it's getting warm out again. Snow's just frozen rain, and when the weather gets hot, it unfreezes.

[Civil conversation about snow. Yes. They can do this.]

_{[HE WON'T. He'll just feel like he ate a rock later.]}

... Oh... I never saw snow, back in Amestris.

Does it only happen here?

[He shakes his head. He actually hadn't considered that Wrath wouldn't know what snow was, or that he'd have never seen it before coming here. The newest homunculus' lack of world experience hadn't been something he'd thought about unless it was to do with a mission.]

No, it happens in Amestris in the winter. Not usually in the south, but Central would get snowstorms. And there was almost always some snow on the ground when you got far north.

_{[There are a LOT of things Wrath doesn't know. He hadn't had time to glimpse even half of what most people took for granted.]

[The sky being blue had been a source of unending delight and wonder for a good number of WEEKS after Wrath's escape from the gate. WEEKS.]}

Oh.

So winter just didn't happen while I was there?

It only happens sometimes?

_{[No Wrath you just LITERALLY WEREN'T ALIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE ONE.]}

Yeah, there's seasons of the year. Snow usually happens in winter, when it gets cold, but summer's supposed to be too hot for snow at all.

[...wait if he doesn't even know about snow he probably doesn't know about seasons.]

Do you know how the world goes around the sun?

_{[As Envy talks, Wrath shoves his cheese-covered fingers in his mouth and kind of sucks on them absent-mindedly, listening in silence.]

[When the other Homunculus posits his scientific question, Wrath just shakes his head wordlessly.]}

Okay. Well...

[He stands and looks around for some of the ART SUPPLIES they've been leaving down here. This is now a science lesson. A non-evil one, even!]

[He finds a mostly intact piece of paper and a crayon that hasn't been eaten yet. It's lime green. He sketches out a rough drawing of the solar system, with circles for the orbits.]

[INSERT SCIENCE-Y EXPLANATION OF PLANETS AND ORBITS AND EARTH BEING TILTED HERE.]

[He's pretty sure Wrath will be able to keep up, he knows the kid's smart.]

Make sense?

Edited 2015-09-12 01:40 (UTC)

_{[NOBODY HAS EVER TAUGHT WRATH ANY SCIENCE THAT WASN'T EVIL BEFORE!!]

[As the lime-green solar system spreads out across the paper, Wrath takes it all in. He's always been a sponge for information-- any information, true or false. It could be that this is one of the first true lessons Envy has ever given him.]

[Which occurs to him at the conclusion of the little lecture, and he furrows his brow, positing a question of his own instead of answering Envy's.]}

Why are you telling me this?

[The question gives Envy pause. Really, it's not a bad question to ask, considering. And Envy DOES have the overall ulterior motive of convincing Wrath that they're not trying to hurt him...but that had only been in the back of his mind during this lesson.]

[Honestly, he'd been kind of enjoying just explaining something innocuous, something unimportant that wouldn't be responded to with furious denials.]

Because you didn't know.

_{[He's trying to piece together how the information he's just been given could POSSIBLY have hidden motives behind it. And he's not coming up with any terribly likely possibilities.]}

But it doesn't have anything to do with anything.

_{[And by 'anything', he means 'any of THIS', which is REALLY all they've talked about since his arrival.]}

No, it doesn't. It doesn't have to.

[He shrugs. But it's occurring to him too that this is the first actual discussion they've had that WASN'T about trying to get Wrath to turn traitor.]

It's just something I figured you ought to know about.

But it's not any more likely to make me believe you about anything else!

That doesn't make sense.

_{[Wrath is clearly having some trouble imagining Envy WITHOUT some kind of ulterior motive inserting double meanings in everything he says.]}

[HONESTLY, NOBODY WOULD BLAME HIM FOR THAT ASSUMPTION. ESPECIALLY NOT ENVY.]

It's not about you believing me about anything else.

But we're not gonna keep you down here forever. You need to know what seasons are, and nobody else told you yet.

_{[!]

[A very important piece of information-- even more important than how seasons and planetary rotations work-- has just been dispensed, and Wrath looks appropriately shocked.]}

You're not?

[It actually hadn't occurred to Envy that Wrath would think they were just going to keep him down here forever. So he blinks at Wrath with surprise of his own.]

What? No, of course we're not.

[WHAT ELSE DOES HE EVEN SAY?]

_{[ENVY YOUR MASTER ONCE IMPRISONED GREED FOR A HUNDRED YEARS.]

[Wrath puffs, his face reddening. On one hand, it's a relief to know that they don't plan on keeping him down here FOREVER, but on the other... that doesn't make any sense either!]}

Then why am I down here at ALL?

I want my Pokemon.

I wanna go home, to my NEW team!

Why do I have to stay?!

You don't even like me anymore!

[HE'S BEEN IN HAPPY POKEMON LAND FOR WAY TOO LONG.]

[Envy grits his teeth, but not in anger. Wrath's words are just causing another hideously uncomfortable stab of guilt. That's one emotion he wishes he didn't have to have discovered along with the others.]

Because we're trying to help you.

[As for not liking Wrath anymore...he just doesn't know what to say to that.]

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